1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a method for processing poultry legs for the purpose of gaining the meat therefrom, by which method the tendons and ligaments extending along the drumstick (lower leg bone) are severed at the distal end area thereof and subsequently the meat is stripped off by a relative movement between the bone and the meat, which relative movement is directed towards the proximal end of said bone, and to an apparatus for performing the method and comprising pincer- or tong-shaped gripping means for gripping the leg in the region of its distal condyle and holding means for embracing said condyle, when seen in the proximal direction, close to the tong-shaped gripping means, which holding means are arranged to be displaced in the longitudinal direction of said bone such as to reduce the distance relative to said gripping means, as well as severing device for severing the tendons and ligaments adjacent to the gripping position of said gripping means.
For deboning poultry legs by means of pulling the leg bone it is important that a visually attractive piece of leg meat is obtained with high yield. Thereby, visual quality is even more easily achievable when the meat is subjected to less wear and tear. The degree of wear is dependent upon the extent to which the tendency to pull the meat portions out along with the leg bone due to their adherence thereto can be reduced or prevented, i.e. to prevent the meat parts from being torn out of the leg meat.
2. Prior Art
It is known that this tendency can be diminished if the tendons and ligaments running through the said meat parts are severed in the distal end region of the leg bone prior to removal of the bone. This takes place e.g. according to DE 32 27 430 C2 when a poultry leg which has been fitted into or clamped by a bone gripping apparatus by means of gripping the leg bone on the distal end thereof is provided with a circumferential notch immediately next to the clamping position by means of a notching apparatus, the production of said circumferential notch causing the tendons and ligaments extending in this region to be severed. Then, by means of an embracing support cheek arrangement located in the proximal direction of the poultry leg adjacent to the circumferential notch, the leg meat is held back and, through removal of the bone gripping apparatus from the support cheek arrangement in the longitudinal direction of the leg bone, the meat is stripped off.
If the poultry legs to be processed concern the drumstick (lower leg), then this manner of proceeding shows that the splint bone forming a needle-shaped bone extending in the distal direction is loosened from the leg bone along with the leg meat relatively often, i.e. it remains in the leg meat. As a result, additional trim work is necessary and, consequently, such processing is also inacceptable from a cost standpoint.
An apparatus for processing poultry extremities containing bones is known from EP 402 647. The starting workpiece is the knee-joint including the whole leg consisting of the thigh (upper leg) and drumstick (lower leg). With this apparatus, the drumstick is retained on its distal end and the thigh is retained on its proximal end through placement in holding elements provided with receiving slots, an incision is produced around the drumstick bone in the vicinity of the clamping position of the said distal end, the knee joint is punched out and, finally, the bones are pulled out by embracing the condyle under retention of the meat.
With this apparatus also, it cannot be ensured that the splint bone is removed from the meat along with the drumstick bone.